Jayson Tatum Thread

[31to6]

Jayson Tatum has won a title, tied Larry Bird’s 60, scored the most points ever in a game 7, grown into a point forward, kept playing defense, added a bunch of muscle and endorsements and two sons and never gotten in any hot water with his teammates or the law or the media, and made four straight All NBA first teams and he hasn’t reached his prime yet.

Enjoy this. It doesn’t happen often!

I saw every game of Reggie’s. Every one of Pierce’s. I didn’t think I’d see a Celtic worth putting in the conversation with Larry. And I don’t, quite, yet — but I do dare to dream

[bisme37]

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[Fierce1]

Great start in the postseason by JT.

31.3 ppg, 11.3 rpg, and 5.3 apg

[bisme37]

31/11/5 on 62% TS against the #2 ranked defense

Tatum joins Larry Bird at the only two Celtics with 35+ points in 3 straight playoff games

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[phincsfan]

37 for 37 since going 0 for 4 from the stripe in game 1

And it seemed like a bunch of the ft's were at timely times during those games.

[ryan in Maine]

JT told Orlando it's time to go home lol (really).

[ryan in Maine]

I like wrist tre Tatum.

[31to6]

37 for 37 since going 0 for 4 from the stripe in game 1

And it seemed like a bunch of the ft's were at timely times during those games.

what's the postseason consecutive FTs made record, Zoya/Dick Lipe?

[playa-hater]

Busted Wrist Tatum > healthy Tatum.. There I said it.

[bisme37]

Yahoo ranks JT as the 3rd best playoff performer so far, and after reading their own write-ip it kinda seems like he should be #1.

Had a wrist injury not cost Tatum Game 2 of Boston's first-round series against the Orlando Magic — a game the Celtics won, by the way — he, too, might be No. 1 on this list. He was that good in four games, registering a Player Efficiency Rating (28.8) that ranks him as the NBA's leader among still-active players.

The Celtics outscored the Magic by 65 points — or by 21 points per 100 possessions — in Tatum's 156 minutes of the series. They were outscored by one in the 84 minutes he was on the bench. Essentially, Boston is either a dominant defending champ or in danger of losing, depending on if he is in the game.

Orlando wanted this. The Magic deliberately defended Tatum — and everyone else on Boston — 1-on-1, switching everything and staying home on shooters, to keep him from carving them up as a playmaker. So Tatum went about the work of dominating in isolation, where he spent more time than anyone in these playoffs and scored 1.05 points per possession, best among those who isolated at a high volume.

He still made plays, too, averaging 5.3 assists in the series and amassing 10 in the close-out Game 5, as the Magic tried sending more help. This came against the league's second-rated defense, a team that dragged the Celtics into the mud. The only one seemingly unaffected by the messy brand of basketball was Tatum, who, after the Magic won Game 3, collected 72 points (on 49/47/100 shooting splits), 22 rebounds, 13 assists and four steals over the final two games of the series to send Orlando packing.

"Very impressive," Celtics veteran Al Horford said of Tatum's ability to adapt his team-oriented game to a more individualized effort against the Magic. "The thing that impresses me most, time and time again, when it's time to finish off a series, he goes to another level, and [Game 5] was so impressive. We get him to a certain point, and then he knows what to do and just kind of takes over. It was pretty special to see."

If Tatum maintains this level of performance into another conference finals and beyond, we may have to have a more serious conversation about whether he is the best player in the East, regardless of whether Giannis Antetokounmpo returns to the Milwaukee Bucks. Tatum simply has no holes in his game.

https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/nba-playoff-mvps-ranking-the-top-postseason-performers-154641633.html

[ryan in Maine]

Can't get Meta to reproduce JT's wrist tre celebration.

[Fierce1]

JT as Superman?

I just saw a commercial on ESPN with JT as Superman.

[jmr07019]

Insanely disappointing two game stretch from Tatum. To be this bad at late game execution in this stage of his career is just sad. Mazzulla getting a lot of blame but Tatum deserves as much if not more blame.

[bisme37]

[Setshot33]

Fluff that doesn't mean anything.

When it's close and your team needs you to take over a game, where are you?

Chucking threes over KAT on the perimeter when you should be driving the paint because he's on you.....

[Smart2Nesmith43]

Fluff that doesn't mean anything.

When it's close and your team needs you to take over a game, where are you?

Chucking threes over KAT on the perimeter when you should be driving the paint because he's on you.....

Player A : 23.6 pts / 7.3 rbs / 3.8 asts / 1.1 stls / 0.7 blks / 45.9 FG% / 37.0 3FG% / 84.0 FT%
Player B : 26.7 pts / 9.3 rbs / 5.1 asts / 0.9 stls / 0.7 blks / 47.4 FG% / 47.9 3FG% / 80.9 FT%
Player A is Tatum's career averages and player B is Tatum in game 7s which rather undermines the whole Tatum doesn't show up in big spots narrative.

Tatum is having a bad series. It happens and it will happen again in the future. The only guys that never struggle in the playoffs are the career losers like Zach Lavine that never get there. Even much better players completely fumble a series from time to time (see LeBron James 2011 Finals or your precious Larry Bird vs the Bucks in 1983 for instance). Not sure that warrants being dismissive of a tremendous accomplishment from a player that does nothing but show up to work every day and play hard on both ends.

[SuperDeluxe]

Fluff that doesn't mean anything.

When it's close and your team needs you to take over a game, where are you?

Chucking threes over KAT on the perimeter when you should be driving the paint because he's on you.....

Player A : 23.6 pts / 7.3 rbs / 3.8 asts / 1.1 stls / 0.7 blks / 45.9 FG% / 37.0 3FG% / 84.0 FT%
Player B : 26.7 pts / 9.3 rbs / 5.1 asts / 0.9 stls / 0.7 blks / 47.4 FG% / 47.9 3FG% / 80.9 FT%
Player A is Tatum's career averages and player B is Tatum in game 7s which rather undermines the whole Tatum doesn't show up in big spots narrative.

Tatum is having a bad series. It happens and it will happen again in the future. The only guys that never struggle in the playoffs are the career losers like Zach Lavine that never get there. Even much better players completely fumble a series from time to time (see LeBron James 2011 Finals or your precious Larry Bird vs the Bucks in 1983 for instance). Not sure that warrants being dismissive of a tremendous accomplishment from a player that does nothing but show up to work every day and play hard on both ends.

Not to mention he's not an a-hole like most players of his caliber, plus he's an impeccable citizen. I don't know where to look for the stat but it's been mentioned many times here that Tatum's plus/minus is off the charts, which shows how critical he is for this team (even if the team is STACKED).

All this Tatum negative criticism reminds me of the same thing going on with Pierce 20 years ago. Today Pierce is a Celtic legend and a hall-of-famer, and Tatum will be too when the time comes.

We're lucky to have him, spoiled even. If Tatum wasn't a Celtic, these complainers would sacrifice their left nut if that helped to bring him in.

[Fierce1]

Fluff that doesn't mean anything.

When it's close and your team needs you to take over a game, where are you?

Chucking threes over KAT on the perimeter when you should be driving the paint because he's on you.....

Player A : 23.6 pts / 7.3 rbs / 3.8 asts / 1.1 stls / 0.7 blks / 45.9 FG% / 37.0 3FG% / 84.0 FT%
Player B : 26.7 pts / 9.3 rbs / 5.1 asts / 0.9 stls / 0.7 blks / 47.4 FG% / 47.9 3FG% / 80.9 FT%
Player A is Tatum's career averages and player B is Tatum in game 7s which rather undermines the whole Tatum doesn't show up in big spots narrative.

Tatum is having a bad series. It happens and it will happen again in the future. The only guys that never struggle in the playoffs are the career losers like Zach Lavine that never get there. Even much better players completely fumble a series from time to time (see LeBron James 2011 Finals or your precious Larry Bird vs the Bucks in 1983 for instance). Not sure that warrants being dismissive of a tremendous accomplishment from a player that does nothing but show up to work every day and play hard on both ends.

Not to mention he's not an a-hole like most players of his caliber. plus he's an impeccable citizen. I don't know where to look for the stat but it's been mentioned many times here that Tatum's plus/minus is off the charts, which shows how critical he is for this team (even if the team is STACKED).

All this Tatum negative criticism reminds me of the same thing going on with Pierce 20 years ago. Today Pierce is a Celtic legend and a hall-of-famer, and Tatum will be too when the time comes.

We're lucky to have him, spoiled even. If Tatum wasn't a Celtic, these complainers would sacrifice their left nut if that helped to bring him in.

You are 100% right on that Paul Pierce thing going on 20 years ago.

The negativity on Tatum now is just absurd.

A case of can't please everyone I guess.

[Fierce1]

Tatum has not reached his full potential.

Efficiency is the next step.

Once Tat becomes more efficient, he will be MVP.

[Setshot33]

Player A : 23.6 pts / 7.3 rbs / 3.8 asts / 1.1 stls / 0.7 blks / 45.9 FG% / 37.0 3FG% / 84.0 FT%
Player B : 26.7 pts / 9.3 rbs / 5.1 asts / 0.9 stls / 0.7 blks / 47.4 FG% / 47.9 3FG% / 80.9 FT%
Player A is Tatum's career averages and player B is Tatum in game 7s which rather undermines the whole Tatum doesn't show up in big spots narrative.

Tatum is having a bad series. It happens and it will happen again in the future. The only guys that never struggle in the playoffs are the career losers like Zach Lavine that never get there. Even much better players completely fumble a series from time to time (see LeBron James 2011 Finals or your precious Larry Bird vs the Bucks in 1983 for instance). Not sure that warrants being dismissive of a tremendous accomplishment from a player that does nothing but show up to work every day and play hard on both ends.

Not to mention he's not an a-hole like most players of his caliber. plus he's an impeccable citizen. I don't know where to look for the stat but it's been mentioned many times here that Tatum's plus/minus is off the charts, which shows how critical he is for this team (even if the team is STACKED).

All this Tatum negative criticism reminds me of the same thing going on with Pierce 20 years ago. Today Pierce is a Celtic legend and a hall-of-famer, and Tatum will be too when the time comes.

We're lucky to have him, spoiled even. If Tatum wasn't a Celtic, these complainers would sacrifice their left nut if that helped to bring him in.

You are 100% right on that Paul Pierce thing going on 20 years ago.

The negativity on Tatum now is just absurd.

A case of can't please everyone I guess.

No.
It's not hating on Tatum. It's pushing back on the contrived narrative that he's some elite superstar that gets paid like a guy you can count on to take over big games when your team needs him the most.
The plain fact is, he's not that guy. Never has been.

And as far as the revisionist history on Pierce goes, he never got right in the head until KG was brought here. Or are you forgetting him showing up to post game pressers with his head wrapped up in bandages? Or making the comment upon KG's arrival that he was going to have to get in shape and start playing defense now?

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.